


Unlucky Son

by sabaat



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Hogwarts is the safest place (insert sarcasm here), Lily Evans Potter & Severus Snape Friendship, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Slighty Lily Bashing, Slytherins Being Slytherins, Time Travel, Young Severus Snape
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:02:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25391329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sabaat/pseuds/sabaat
Summary: One night of August, Severus Snape wakes up being a teenager instead of being just plain dead after Nagini's bite.Well, isn't that the perfect chance to make some changes, here and there?
Comments: 39
Kudos: 309





	1. 1.	A House Made of Bricks

  1. **A House Made of Bricks**



Along the side of a small and quite dirty river, there was a house made of bricks.

Once, when the house was built with the rest of the village, so the workers of the mill could inhabit those small and boring cubicles, the bricks were a warm and deep orange, nearly red. Long ago the colour had been forgot by time, and now everywhere a dark hue had taken over the small village. 

Sometimes Severus Snape, 14 years old and fresh out of his third year attending the renowned Hogwarts, School Of Wizarding and Witchcraft, thought that those dark colours must have come to find their home at Spinner's End just when he was born. He was not a very optimistic child, but then life had never let him be such. Life, in the form of his parents and his overall look. And, later, in the form of the other children at school, and especially those four ones that seemed to took so much joy in tormenting him. 

Maybe there was something in him, that the rest of the world could see, and that made him so unfit in everyplace. 

At least, so he thought until one night, two days before his departing for his fourth year of school, when he awoke with a scream unwilling to leave his mouth, his hands trying to stop the inexistent bleeding in his throat. 

Too bad no one had ever said to Severus Snape, in the long hours that he passed wishing to change his past, that magic makes wishes true. 

*******

Severus Snape had his eyes fixated on the glass, when his figure looked mockingly at him. Well, his _past_ figure. The truth was, he had forgot just how much of a scrawny figure he cut out at 14. He was horribly skinny, with yellow and purple spots at random places (where his father had hit him more recently), and still quite short. Taller than the average boy his age, but then he was used to his older self.

Once he accustomed himself with the idea o being a teenager again, various plans had begun forming themselves in his genius mind.

For some of them, he was still too young. For others, he just had to wait for the right time to come. And that meant sacrifices. But he was accustomed to those, and so he saw no problem in making some “for the greater good”. Some of the Headmasters’ ideas must had rubbed on him, he supposed. He nearly heard his voice softly laughing at him in his mind, but he decided it was not the right moment to succumb to that particular form of craziness.

He avoided Lily the next days, trying to compose himself at the thought of seeing her again, of being friendly with her again. Though, not much friendly. They had started to split at the end of the previous year, the pressure from the rest of the Gryffindors to leave aside the snarky Slytherin too much o the young girl to bear. Oh, they still saw each other, but it was just them in a class or in the library, when not many people could see them. The Gryffindors made less comments this way, and life for Lily had become easier those last months. Not so much for Severus, though. Sure, some of the Slytherins had made less comments on his friendship with a muggleborn, but the upper years didn’t care much what the first three years did, and saw them as children. Things would change this year, Severus remembered. Much more pressure. Much more problems from the Marauders, too, for this was the year they started looking out for him just to try some of their ‘clever’ hexes, instead of just waiting for him to appear where they were. This was the year he started to invent his own hexes, too.

When the day arrived, Severus apparated himself in front of the Hogwarts Express (some magic the Ministry could never track, no matter how much they tried). He found a place for himself, in the open seats at the beginning of the train, near the Prefects’ compartment.

Every year in his past life, he had found himself an empty compartment, initially sharing it with Lily, then alone, scaring off everyone else. Every year the Marauders had fund him, starting trouble. Not this year, though. Severus knew thy liked having a public for their bullying, they always did. And Severus always hid, but maybe he had been wrong about it. He had a new approach in mind. He didn’t need the general student population to like him to find Potter and Black’s behaviour unlikable, but they never had saw much of it because Severus had been too proud to surround himself with people who could mock him.

Well, let them mock, he thought. But let them see what they were, too.

*******

So he waited for them and, a couple of hours after the train departed, they him. He was reading his History of Magic book, and the rest of the compartment was full of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, all reading like him or having a second look at their summer homework. In front of him sat a mousy Ravenclaw girl, with dark hair a very much occupied with some Arithmantic calculation.

“Snivellus!” It was Black’s voice that made him look up the pages. The boy was healthier than ever, still living with his family instead of the Potters, eyes glittering with anticipated satisfaction. James Potter was just a half step behind him, his unsufferable messy hair everywhere. Severus was quite sure some of it was purposeful. Harry’s hair had been messy indeed, but never like this. And the boy never purposely massed them up either, of what Severus could remember.

Peter Pettigrew, the little coward, was half hiding behind them, anticipation making him shake. At the end of their little group, was Remus Lupin. Somehow, Severus had hated him more the others. Lupin could swear left and right he had never took part in his friend’s recreational bullying activities, but the fact was that he never did much to help him or the other victims, either. Severus was quite sure Lupin had been made Prefect to rein his friend a bit, but he never saw much of a result, considering the same year he was made one Black had tried to make Werewolf food out of him.

And truly, Severus had not been a nice person, either, but he never faked being something he was not. That hypocrisy, he could not stand. Slytherins were often hypocrites, too, out of necessity for the persona they were playing for the world to see, and he did not like that either, bout found it a bit more acceptable than the Gryffindor way to own that trait. Faking goodness and chivalrousness just to cover their own hatred. In truth, no group was better than the other. Not for the first time in his adult life, he felt some pity for the other two houses, for having to share their formative years in a infinite battle between the other two.

“Here you are, Snivvy! We looked for…” Black tried to continue.

“Look,” Severus interrupted them, “I honestly feel all of this very childish. I can’t fathom to understand why can’t you find other hobbies instead of tormenting me and, sometimes, other people. Can you please just leave aside this rivalry you created in your minds, so maybe the all of us can have a peaceful year?”

After some moments of Black making the perfect imitation of a fish, Severus opened again his book, not really reading anything. He didn’t have to wait much more.

Potter slammed his hands on the table, messing the Arithmancy notes of the girl. She did not look happy. “Now, Snivellus, that is not a way to speak to your betters…”

“That’s because you’re not my betters.”

“We’re better than you in every single way, you slimy snake!” Protested Black, his hand clasping around his wand. “Tarantalle..”

“Expelliarmus.” With a bored tone and a quick hand movement Black was disarmed.

Potter was just right to try something else, when the door of the Prefect’s cabin opened loudly.

“What in Merlin’s name are you doing?” an angry feminine voice asked.

‘Excactly as I planned, Severus thought, hiding the catlike smile and never diverting his gaze from Potter’s one. ‘See how you like this, now.’


	2. A Snake In The Garden

**2\. A Snake In The Garden**

It wasn’t that Severus hated the Marauders, _per se_. He knew that they were mere children, even Pettigrew, and that at least two of them had outgrown their bullying behavior in his last life. But the four boys still deserved a bit of comeback for what they had done last time he was a student, and for what they were about to do to him just now.

The rest of the ride had been unbothersome after the little meeting. The Head Girl came back and told him the Marauders had been locked in a cabin as detention for their behavior, and that ten points had been took for each of them. Severus supposed he was lucky that this year’s Head Girl was a Ravenclaw instead of the usual Gryffindor. The sad truth was, the House of the Brave was a much biased as his own House, just in different ways, towards different people. Snakes and lions… well, they were too much o the same to work together without causing friction. Which was why rarely the two Houses had been made to share classes before Dumbledore had become Headmaster. Then the blasted sugar-addict, with his oh-so-pure ideas about love and peace, had tried to force them together with little or no result at all, if not for the fact that the Houses were now more alienated to each other than ever.

Which was, at the end of the day, one of the biggest flaws Severus Snape saw to his new-born plan.

If he truly wanted to avoid most of his housemate following old Tom, he had to make them more likable to the rest of the school. If the rest of them liked them more, the Slytherins would have more chances to escape the road in front of them right now. Now, there wasn’t even half a chance the Gryffindors giving them the benefit of the doubt, his future life had shown him that. No matter how much he had sacrificed being a spy, no one from the Order had given him more than a façade of politeness, and often not even that. Nearly all of them had been Gryffindors, and he had learnt his lesson. He would never stop being a slimy Slytherin to them, and there was no vow to protect Lily’s son here, because Lily’s still hasn’t one, and so Severus could, for once in his adult life, work to make his own life better. Luckily for him, in doing so he will probably end up saving the rest of the world too, and no true Slytherin would have missed the chance to do so.

No, he had to start with the Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs. Once he had at least one of the other houses on their side, the rest of the plan could start unfolding.

Those was the line of his thoughts during the train ride to Hogwarts. So much focused he was in his plotting and planning, he didn’t realize there was something completely new in the glances the other occupants of the cabin were giving him.

*******

The thing about Slytherin was that they hated weakness. They could accept some madness here and there, as long as it came with ambition and talent, but if they found a weak link, they isolated it so it couldn’t hurt the rest of them.

Last time around, Severus hadn’t known about it. His mother had been a Ravenclaw like most of her family and could not have made him aware of it. And so, very quickly, he had become that weak link. He came from a poor, muggle neighborhood, wore third- or fourth-hand clothes and had nothing on his bac but his mind to help him out. Often, especially, the first years around, his mind had not been enough to help him out of most situations. Things started to change when he started associating with some of the future Death Eaters, his time inside the House became easier, even if outside of it things with the Marauders escalated faster every day.

This time, Severus was the most powerful member of the House. He still hadn’t any connection, but he had much more knowledge any teenager had the right to. And he knew exactly what was about to happen.

So, when the rest of the boys in his dorm started surrounding him the very first night they were back at Hogwarts, he did not even turn around to face them when they started taunting him. Not even speaking, he blocked the nasty jinxes and hexes, shielding himself non-verbally while turning around to face his attackers. Last time, he had passed the first night stuck on the ceiling of their dorm, terrorized of falling asleep before the jinx wore of and then hurting himself falling down.

They were in a semicircle before him. On his left there was Markus Nott, uncle of Theodore Nott whom he had taught to block his nightmares. Markus was a not a bad person, but was incapable of escaping what other expected from him. Of his Slytherin year mates, he was the one he like more. Beside him stood Kamil Szerwatsky, son of the Polish ambassador to Magic Britain. Honestly, he was more spoiled than Draco Malfoy, and often faked ignorance at the British way, never mind his mother was a Parkinson and he only saw his father motherland for one month in the summer. At the end, came the Carrow twins. Not the two that would follow the Dark Lord and teach at Hogwarts in 1998, but their cousins. Magic Britain was full of Carrow twins, one couple worst than the other. Amilcare and Julius followed the family tradition with a passion.

None of them were particularly threatening to him, but the twins would become particularly bad in the future. And Szerwatsky was the one that had pinned him on the ceiling last time around. So, he just did the same with them. Just to make sure, he put a Silencing Charm on all four of them. And painted them red with gold stripes.

“Now, I know this is not particularly polite, but quite frankly, I’m done being polite. You messed with me for quite a long time, I think. If after tomorrow you will desist with your childish ways, I’ll make sure this will not happen again. The colour will fade away after you will exit the dungeon area, as for the sticking charm, I have no idea when it will fade, so you better pay attention and not hurt yourself.

Have a nice night, gentlemen. And with that, he closed the curtains of his bed, changed in his pajamas, and fall asleep with half a smile on his face.

*******

The next morning, he let down the other four boys and walked out the Slytherin dorms straight to the Great Hall, chose a place that everyone would think to be above him, and quietly started eating a full English breakfast. He was one of the first ones in the Great Hall, much of the school still asleep. At the teacher table, only Flitwick was present. He made up his mind in less than ten second, and swiftly went to the teacher.

“Professor Flitwick?” he started, not an ounce of indecisiveness in his voice.

The small man jumped a bit in his own place before answering him. “Oh, Mr Snape, good morning, good morning! How can I help you young man?”

“I’m having some problems in Charms, sir. Quite frankly, is my worst subject. Is possible to have a meeting with you in the future sir? Maybe you can tell me what I’m doing wrong.”

“Of course, of course Mr Snape. Your markings are not bad, but I know you have put high standards to yourself. Come to the Charms Classroom this afternoon after the end of the lessons, we can have a look at your casting before dinner.”

“Thank you, sir. I’m letting you enjoy your breakfast now.

Flitwick followed the young Slytherin with his eyes, noting some of his House was giving him strange looks. Stranger than usual, that was. Severus Snape was quite a mystery to him. He was quite sure he had never met any Snape before, and the thought of a Muggleborn amidst the snake was ridiculous to him. He had been quite a timid and shy child in the previous years, and the teacher feared he was a bit of a bullying victim, but he never had any proof of it and the boy had always been kid of unapproachable before.

He looked surer of himself this year around, though. Well, it could only had been a good sign, he thought as he sipped his cup of tea.

*******

The rest of the day went away quite slowly for Severus. He had Herbology, Arithmancy and Transfiguration before Charms, which would’ve been his last lesson of the day. He was very bored. As much as he didn’t remember every single detail of the Transfiguration theory they approached that day, he knew way more than everyone else in that room with the exclusion of Minerva, of course. Herbology and Arithmancy were both part of his Potion Mastery and he used them every day in his job. Everything seemed so slow to him, he barely was able to stay awake during the lessons, and he had been the first one able to make a pincushion out of his hedgehog, on his first try. Minerva gave him ten points and a look of surprise. He hadn’t been a bad student, but neither had he been the best one on that subjects. Both Potter and Black had took that particular place last time.

Not this time, though, Severus thought. This time, I intend to shine so much the only thing left for those four pigs will be crumbles of shadows. 

After lunch, he had spent his free period avoiding Lily and, basically, anyone else. He sat alone in a classroom two doors away from the Charm’s one, revising his plans in his head and writing down some letters. He waited until only five minutes were left to Flitwick’s lesson to leave his safe spot, and he nearly thought he had avoided the Marauders before hearing them snickering amidst the other lions.

It was Black, of course, that started antagonizing him. Nothing new there.

“Snivvy Snivvy Snivvy! So, why you don’t tell us how you cheated at Transfiguration, mmm? I’m sure everyone here wants to know how you managed to go form mediocre to fake-best-one little snake.”

He had that smile in his face that made him remember vividly of Bellatrix. Sure, that woman had been way more than usual Black-crazy after Azkaban, but before that? She had been a slightly worse version of her cousin, curly hair and all.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lily getting angry and embarrassed at the same time. Perfect, he thought, exactly the right combination to make him even angrier, at least in the past. He had time to make peace with his anger problems in his years as a Spy, and wasn’t so easily triggered anymore. Especially with the thick wall of occlumency he was using right now. 

Before he could answer the mutt, James Potter put his own face in nearly contact with Severus one.

“Well, Siri, this slimy thing here must have used some dark magic trick to use my wand, he could not be good at anything but his little chemistry tricks without cheating, everyone knows it. So, spill it Slimellus.”

He had never saw Potter that angry before. He always had that kind of nonchalant air around him, a very pureblood thing now that Severus could think about it.

“I have no need to use your wand Potter, mine is perfectly good, thank you. But I bet you miss it, don’t you Potty? Have you told mommy and daddy while you don’t have your wand anymore and are using that old thing there?” He snickered a bit at the end, and he could hear the other Slytherins behind him do the same. He could even recognise the tones of his dorm-mates.

Which was exactly when Lily decided to intervene, of course. Merlin forbid the evil snakes of having some fun at the expenses of the oh-so-good-and-brave lions.

“Severus, you have to give James back his wand, is not right stealing stuff like this, we could go to the teachers or even Dumbledore and then you would be in serious troubles, so –“

Severus, on his part, rolled his eyes. “First of all, Evans, I didn’t stole anything. Your gallant knights here tried to hex me yesterday on the train and I disarmed Potter. Now his wand is loyal to me, and the teachers already know it, the Head Girl told them what happened just after we arrived. Legally, that wand is now mine. I think it will make a nice fire wood, don’t you?”

Before he could absorb the look of discomfort on his best friend’s face, Black had already attacked him.

“Who to you think you are, Snivellus? You are no one, how dare you take his wand? _Waddiwasi_!”

But Severus had been faster. After a quick Expelliarmus, Black’s wand was already in his hand.

Not that Black was stopped by it. Like a complete muggle, he launched a punch at his face. A punch Severus would’ve not have been able to block, but apparently there was no need for him to do so.

“Mr. Black!” Flitwick voice was angrier than ever, while some non-verbal spell he had launched had blocked Black on in place, surrounding him with a blue bubble. “This in unacceptable, boy! 25 point from Gryffindor! In all my years as a professor, I never saw such a behaviour. You may be sure I will speak to your Head of House, and a punishment will follow! Everyone else, inside now! Wait for me in silence, and read the first chapter of this year’s book, I’ll send someone to make sure you’ll behave. Black, with me, now!”

As they entered the classroom and very silently started their task, Severus ignored the hateful glares Potter and his friend were sending him, choosing to seat with Melanthe Greengrass, a Slytherin girl he was pretty sure to never have been spoke with. He ignored her pensive look too. He supposed the changes in him were obvious at this point.

Then again… he never intended for them to not be.

*******

Gringott’s Headwarrior Griphook, a short Goblin with a menacing smile always plastered om hi face, did not usually had post from wizards. They had their own bookeepers and had no use for him, and actually he was quite sure in the last twenty years he had received exactly three letters from wizards.

One from Nicholas Flamel, the renowned Alchemist; and two from Amirah Zainabi, Egyptian witch extraordiner who was working for the bank in her homeland, taking care of some really nasty artifacts the bank owned and did not respond well to Goblin’s magic.

This was the fourth one since he had been appointed Headwarrior, and if what was written there was truth, he should be very concerned indeed.

To the respectable Gringott’s Headwarrior Griphook,

May your gold flow and your ax be always sharp!

I have taken courage to contact you for two very illegal and unethical items I believe to be in the unwilling care of your Bank. If I did not think this to be an urgent and important matted, I would’ve not took into consideration contacting you, for I know wizards’ wars and politics do not concern the Goblin Clans, as it should be.

I have been informed, by people that aren’t currently alive, that at least one artifact known as horcrux is present in your bank right now, but there are probably two.

I know for sure that that kind of magic has no place among the Clans, and that your Bank does not allow its existence inside itself. I’m afraid it might disrupt the magic of Bank itself, if said horcruxes were left there.

I speaking about a golden cup and, probably, a medallion, both originally owned by two of the Hogwarts’ founders.

I know the Clans have methods to check if such items are insider their territory, and I know you will make sure those two items are destroyed as they should.

I only beg to be made aware when those items will actually cease to exist, this will make me possible to sleep way better at nights.

In faith,

The Half-Blood Prince

Monday, 2nd September 1974

  
  



	3. A Flower For Your Thoughts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!  
> I've not left this story to die, but I had an unsuspected long vacation and didn't had my laptop with me. You should expect weekly updates from now on until the end.  
> Enjoy!

Severus skipped dinner. Severus did actually skip dinner a lot in the past. When he was a child the first time he was to afraid of others to go, and then, growing up, he was so used to close himself in his rooms, reading his potion books and researching for the sake of knowledge, he just forgot most often than not. He hadn’t skipped a meal in the years Harry Potter was in the castle, because he was sure James Potter’s son could very easily manage to strange himself with a chicken bone, and then Albus would have found a way to remember him about his promise to protect the boy, even from dead chicken parts. But since there was no Harry Potter yet in this time, he just went back to skipping dinner, and so he missed the exited chatting that went around that night, mostly about him. There wasn’t a mention of a student taking the wand loyalty of another student since Dylwis Derwent challenged Heric Merlott to a duel after the boy had said her yellow ey3s were sign of certain evilness and that was why she was in Slytherin. The boy had ended up so wounded the school had forbidden duels from then on. But the Snape boy had not been a participant in any duel, and yet the wands had chosen him after he merely expelliarmused his attackers. That was unprecedent in the school, as the barriers should had forbidden the wands to change loyalty. And yet they did. Dumbledore had examined them after the Head Girl and Flitwick had bring them to him. The wands were loyal to one Severus Snape.

The Gryffindor were angry, because the fourth-year group had costed them a 65 point loss and it was only the first school day, plus they had been bested by a Slytherin and that was not good in their book.

The Hufflepuffs were quite indifferent, but they didn’t like the fact that a group had attacked a single student. That wasn’t fair, or so they thought.

The Ravenclaws were intrigued. The ones in the fourth year knew Snape was their intellectual peer, and that alone was worth something. And they couldn’t refrain but notice he had held his ground, and that meant he had talent and knowledge above his year mates. Maybe they could convince him to study with them? Sure, he was a Slytherin, but it was worth trying.

But the ones who talked the more were the Slytherins.

They hadn’t paid much attention to the boy the previous years. He was a pitiful scrawny thing, slim and skittish, with worse manners than clothes, coming from an unknown pureblood line, and unworthy of their attention. But they had seen his dormmates coming out that morning painted red and gold, and a one against four victory was something wort noting. And then the wands, and his new attitude, and the way he was holding himself. Something had happened, and they needed to know what and how that would benefit their house.

And so, while the whole school was speaking about a him, young again Severus Snape was busy writing down to people he yet had to meet, trying to change a darkest future anyone in that castle could dream of.

*******

The first lesson of the next day was Potion. If he really was his age, Severus would’ve been anxious. Slughorn had not payed attention to him. He wasn’t rich or good looking or connected enough for Slughorn to notice him, and he had tried to impress the man or years, only for him to never give him a point. He had complimented Lily pretty much at every lesson, even though her potions weren’t nearly as good as his. She was good, for sure, but she was not a genius, not in Potions anyway.

Not that he cared much about Slughorn’s opinion anymore. He was way past that, but was still petty enough to greatly enjoying being outrageously right and better than anyone. Which was why he was doing another potion alongside the one the old man had given them. The Confusing Concoction was something Severus had mastered in the first months of his third year, even though Slughorn had taught it only in April. It wasn’t a big thing for him and he had plenty of attention to dedicate to the silvery thing that was boiling at his left. When the both of them were ready (a good half hour before the end of the lesson, Severus noticed with glee), he approached the teacher’s table.

He didn’t rise his head from the gossiping journal he was reading.

“Do you need any help, Snaipee?”

Severus would’ve swore he was messing his name on purpose, but after being his co-worker, he was more than aware of the fact that he simply didn’t care enough to learn some names properly.

“I’ve finished, Sir.”

The man raised his head. “What? Oh, boy, is impossible, there’s still plenty of time left and…”

“I’ve finished it anyway. And I prepared something new too, I would like to have a minister’s employee from the Potions Patent Office, sir.” He was trying as much as he could to not put any infliction whatsoever in his voice. “I know it’s possible for students from the fourth year and above to patent their potions, if they create something new and if they are in the top five students in that field.”

“Well, Mr. Snippy, your Confusing Concoction looks quite good I must say. What have you created than, a variation of some sort?” He appeared mildly curious now, but not nearly as much as a real Potion Master would’ve been.

“I’d rather say when the officer will be here Sir. I also have some stuff I created this summer I would like to have checked.”

“Ok, sure, sure, boy. Go wait at you table, I’ll send an excuse note for your next teacher then.”

And so Severus went back to his table, faking ignorance at the glances the Ravenclaws were giving him. ‘Good,’ he thought, ‘let’s start this. If they’re not curious, they will non accept a collaboration with me.’

*******

By lunch time the only thing the school was talking about was how excited the officer from the Potion Patent Office had look and how apparently little unknown Severus Snape was now the retainer of seven patented new potions and was collaborating with the Ministry to patent a new formidable potion that would make possible for Werewolves to retain their consciousness during the full moon.

Probably the only one that wasn’t speaking about Severus Snape’s new persona was Lily Evans, and even snapped at her best friend, Emmeline Vance. She simply didn’t understood why Severus was being such a prick lately. They had always been friends, even after being sorted in two different Houses, and now he was ignoring her. She couldn’t accept it. She wouldn’t, she decided. And so she decided to skip her afternoon lessons.

She blocked Severus at the end of the stairs.

“Can we talk?” She asked him.

“You want to skip lesson to talk to me?” He asked back, quite coldly. More coldly than she was used to.

“Yes! You avoiding me, Sev, and this stops now!”

*******

It didn’t went well.

That night, Lily Evans cried her eyes out while her dorm-mates tried to make her feel better.

Severus Snape, from his part, decided to avoid his House entirely and hid himself in the Room of Requirement.

If Severus had been a better friend, a better person, he would’ve had forgiven his first and only friend for putting him aside. He would’ve known that friendship was harder than that, and somehow, he did, but he also knew what would’ve become of him if he let his feelings take over. Lily would walked all over him again, and he would have let her, until the day the rage would just become too much and she would not forgive him.

He knew it hadn’t been Lily fault, he knew the choice to become a Death Eater had been his.

And yet, they had been friends for over a decade. They had their first cigarette together, their first trip to Hogsmade and so many other first times he had lost count.

Severus knew would’ve become a Death Eater even if Lily had forgiven him, even if he had never said that world. Because he craved acceptance, and they had given him that, even for just a time, before he saw the Dark Lord and his minions for what they were. He had been a coward back then, but he had learnt valour since his teenage years.

And Lily had never accepted him, never really understood him. He had loved her deeply, and with time he had learnt romantic feelings weren’t all he felt for her. She had been his hope. His hope for something better, when his father had beaten him and his mother had ignored him. But Lily had been only human, that Severus could accept now, even if he didn’t the first time around. And she had defects, too, even if she didn’t want people to think she had any.

That had been the problem, at the end. That she cared about what other thought of her, too, just as much as Severus did, only in a different way. People didn’t like seeing bright and pretty Lily Evans with morose and dark Severus Snape, and she had started to ask for secret meetings, and sometimes had ignored him in public, and it had hurt Severus more that he could’ve been capable to say in any life. And he knew that she deserved another chance, she had just started behaving that way, but for once in his life, Severus Snape had chosen to put himself above everyone else.

Self-preservation was the core of everything Slytherin, and damn him if he wasn’t the most Slytherin of them all.


	4. 4. What’s Left Of A Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it goes! Only six chapters left. Enjoy!

  1. **What’s Left Of A Man**



One thing Severus did not think about was the fact, unknown to the general Hogwarts population, that two cousins had the bad habit of going around the school until the first hours of the morning. Narcissa Black was a fifth year Prefect, had the charming smile of a Veela and the habit of taking her cousin Regulus, a mere third year, pretty much everywhere. They usually ended up grabbing some tea and cake from the kitchen and relaxing in the same Room of Requirement Severus was hiding.

The room being occupied was a big news for them. No one had discovered that secret in the past years, and it was more than strange, for the Black cousins, to be denied access to what they thought as ‘their’ room. So they did what any educated pureblood would have done: they transfigured some random items they had with them in an iron garden table with two chairs and proceeded with their indoor pick-nick, idling talking about their family and waiting for someone to get out.

And when Severus Snape, the talk of the day, was the one to get out he found two very perplexed Blacks watching him intently. He did not had time to say a word that the cousins grabbed him, made table and chairs disappear, and closed again the room behind themselves.

*******

Severus was used at being looked at with different shades of hatred or diffidence, that was nothing new for him. He had built such a reputation that even first year muggleborns knew to not cross him before going at their first Potions lesson. But the look in Regulus and Narcissa’s eyes he had never saw before. It was a mist of awe, suspicion and anxiety.

He had decided long ago to make Narcissa part of his plan, and he had wanted to tell her the truth about his new old self, but this was happening decidedly too soon. Regulus had been a part of his plan, too, in different ways. He had not known him well enough in his past life to trust him entirely, but he had trusted Narcissa back then, and she had only had good words for his cousin, died so young trying to defeat Tom Riddle. But they had cornered him, and he had decided to took a chance with them, having the room apparate a Pensieve and making them look at his past future memories. If something went wrong, he could always obliviate them and use the experience as reference for the next time the stupid idea to collaborate with anyone would cross his mind.

And so here they were, at 5 a.m. in the morning, three Slytherins plotting, or at least trying to.

Narcissa was sitting quite in a dark green velvet armchair, her eyes fixed somewhere on Severus left shoulder, while her cousin kept submerging him with questions.

“So, you’re saying you’re from the future.” Regulus asked for the third time.

“Yes, that would be correct.”

“And you are trying to defeat the Dark Lord.”

“That’s the plan.”

“But… why?” He genuinely looked confused. “He will give us back power, and we could finally change thing for the better for once, instead of waiting for the Ministry to do nothing”

Severus became quite upset at that. All that enthusiasm, all that hope. He remembered being that way, before seeing what the Dark Lord truly was. What he did to the people who had believed in his plans for a better Magic Britain. Regulus Black resembled too much his past self for his peace of mind.

“Why Dumbledore?” Narcissa interrupted them. “I can understand not believing in the Dark Lord. He’s new, and we don’t know much about him yet-“ Regulus breathed heavily, looking at his cousin like she was crazy. She completely ignored him. “But why working for Dumbledore? He never liked us, he always treated Slytherins like we’re this evil mass he’s forced to accept here against his will.”

“Because there was no one else.” Severus simply said. “He was the only one willing to fight against the Dark Lord. I did not approve of many of his plans, and he will always be an obscure man that refuses to acknowledge other people ideas, but at the time he was the only one left to work with. The Ministry was weak and corrupted, way more than it is right now. The Goblins and the other Magical Beings are not willing to collaborate anymore with wizard, not after the last century of legislation that limitate their rights. I did not have the power nor the influence to create a new side, not back then.”

He didn’t want to think much about it. If he started thinking about what he was about to do, Severus knew he would start losing courage.

“So, this is your plan.” Narcissa said smugly, distracting him from his thoughts. “You want to create a third side. A grey one.”

Regulus looked at them with awe. “That’s why you met that official from the Ministry today, isn’t it? That’s why you’re behaving this way since the year started. If you make a name of yourself, more people will start to look at you like someone they could follow, more people will abandon both the Light and the Dark and that will weaken them.”

“They don’t have to follow me, necessarily, but that’s the idea. If we can form a third group, we can at least try to oppose first the Dark Lord and then we can take away most of the Light’s hold on power.” He tried to explicate. “And then things for Slytherins would be easier.”

Some minutes passed, and none of them said anything.

“Give us until this night.” Narcissa finally said after meeting his cousin eyes. “And we’ll tell you if we’ll help you or not.”

Severs had never said a word about needing their help, but he had always known Narcissa was more clever than she wanted other people to believe. That was one of the reasons he had liked her so much in the past, and why he had allowed her to become effectively his only friend.

“We’ll see each other tomorrow night, then.”

*******

The tall lady sat down, accommodating her satin gown on the expensive sofa that decorated the room, his host taking place in front of her.

“We both know why I’ve invited you here, Lucius.” Bellatrix Lestrange said. She looked down at the ring on her left hand, still contemplating it after a month of marriage. She did not look the same as the one that would escape Azkaban nearly twenty years later. She of course was still tall and with a marvelous mane of pitch-black hair, but her skin looked brighter, and her eyes had a depth in them they had lost in the future.

“Do I?” Asked Lucius Malfoy. He was a year younger of Bellatrix, but anyone who had met him, both now and in the future, would’ve said Lucius Malfoy had the same expression since his father had died when he had been eleven, just three days before his first year at Hogwarts. Always the politician, Lucius was not one to make his cards known before time.

“We both received letters, Lucius. I know because in mine it was written an identical one had been sent to you.”

“That letter was rubbish, Bellatrix.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” She insisted.

“Bellatrix, my father told me himself to trust our Lord. They were student’s together, and he would’ve never followed him, trusted in him, if even one of the things that are written there had been true.”

“I’m not doubting your father Lucius. I have the best memories of him, truly. He used to give me lemon bars every time I was able to recite a poem from Algida Newgrave’s collection. He was a great man and a marvellous godfather to me, and I trust his judgment even after his death. But we’re Slytherins, we both know if one’s good enough he can lie to just about everyone. And if they went to school together, it could be that he lied all his life and no one could have been the wiser.”

“Bella…” Lucius started again.

“Just a check. If nothing gets out from this, we’ll forget all about those letters. Just a check, Lucius.” She pleaded him.

“Just a check.” He murmured back, “And then we can forget about this madness and go forth with our plans.”


End file.
